Patent GB-190624550-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to Conveyors.
Filed: 1906-11-02
Granted: 1907-10-31
Abstract: 24,550. Marks, E. C. R., [Ashford, J.]. Nov. 2. Rope railways; rope grips; points and switches; sidings; stops.-In a portable rope railway suitable for conveying excavated material over irregular country, the carrying-rope is made in short lengths, supported on standards mounted on wheels and provided with tensioning- devices. Sidings are also provided, and means for automatically loading and dispatching the skips. The standards g, Figs. 1 and 2, are constructed of angleiron and have a tank-like base i in which ballast may be placed. The ends of the carrying-rope sections pass over pulleys or guides f, two adjacent ends being preferably connected to the same winch h by means of a shackle h<1> and ropes h<2>. An outward rope a and a return rope b are used, connected at the ends of the apparatus by semicircular tracks ; each rope is in two-span lengths, and the tensioning-devices fore the two lines are arranged on alternate standards. The hauling- cable e is supported by pulleys 8, 9, and is returned after the passage of a skip by guides 35. The skips c, Fig. 7, have bottom doors, and are provided with a gripping-device d, consisting of two conical or cylindrical rollers 33,34 mounted on parallel or inclined pivots in such a manner as to leave a V-shaped space between them in which the hauling-cable may be gripped. The rollers are preferably inclined with their upper ends towards the direction of travel, so that the cable is gripped automatically between them. The rollers may also be slightly eccentric, and may have plain or serrated surfaces. The loading-apparatus may be placed at any point along the rope ; at that point the skips run on to a branch line m, Fig. 4, which is further divided into as many sub-branches as there are loading-hoppers. Two sub-branches n, o are shown, connected to the branch m by a switch consisting of two rails v, w suspended by hangers s from a plate pivoted to the framework at u. As the skip advances along the rail v, it encounters a fixed bar x, producing a reaction which turns the switch about the pivot u, until the rail v is in alinement with the sub-branch n and the rail w is in alinement with the branch m. The next skip then reverses the switch by encountering'a-b.ar y and passes on to the sub-branch o. One or both of the cub-branches o, n may be further subdivided by using similar switches. The skip is brought to rest under the shoot by means of a stop 4, Figs. 6 and 9 ; after loading, a section 7 of the rail is tilted, and the trolly passes down the inclined rail 5 and joins the track a at a lower level. To allow for this difference in level, a special standard 10, Fig. 7, is used, the hauling-cable e passing over a pulley 11 placed at such a height that the cable leaves the grip just before the skip reaches the track m, and then under a pulley 12 at the lower level. The track rope a is also secured at a lower level to the standard 10. The guide-pulley 12 drives a shaft 13, through.gearing 14 and a flexible telescopic section 13<1>. Each loading and dispatching device is driven from the shaft 13 by cams 17, rendered operative at the approach of a skip by mechanism described in Specification No. 24,551, A.D. 1906, [Abridgment Class Sifting &c.]. The shaft 13 is made in several lengths connected by flexible couplings 18. To prevent two skips from being dispatched nearly at the same time, interlocking gear is provided. When one skip reaches its stop 4, Fig. 6; it deflects a lever 19 which sets the loading-gear in motion, and at the same time compresses to its minimum length a telescopic rod 21 through a lever 24. The lever 24 is held in this position by a catch 26, Fig. 7, which is released by a trigger 28 on a rod 29 operated by a cam-lever 30, when the skip is loaded. If another skip reaches the other shoot in the meantime, the lever corresponding to the lever 19, which has similar connexions with the rod 21, pimply compresses a spring, the loading-apparatus being started after the release of the rod 21 when the first skip has been loaded.